Monday, November 1, 2010

This months Cigar Aficionado Magazine searched for the top white shark company running operations in Mexico and sent intrepid reporter Jim Cornfied out with Shark Diver and the crew of Horizon Charters to Isla Guadalupe to discover cigars and sharks.

Our little company has kept a fine tradition of cigar smoking alive on board as it turns out shark adventures and very expensive cigars seem to go quite naturally together.

We're on page 52 of Decembers issue, talking sharks, conservation, and what we do best.

We'll post the entire article when it comes online or pick up your magazine today.

Villagers in the Philippines have butchered for food an endangered whale shark that was trapped in a fish pen, stunning officials who vowed on Thursday to file criminal charges for the slaughter of a rare creature.

Environmental officer Job Tagle said he found about a dozen people with knives running away with big basins of meat carved from the whale shark when he reached the village of Bio-os in the central Philippines on Tuesday.

Tagle said only the head of the whale shark - the world's biggest fish species - was left when he and police arrived.

It took at least 10 men to carry the head, which weighed about 200kg, onto a van. It had what looked like several bullet and spear wounds and was later buried, he said.

The owner of the fish pen, located about 500 metres from shore, said the animal was dead when he found it, but police suspect it was killed based on its wounds, Tagle added.

An official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Negros Oriental province, Oscar Moncopa, said charges will be filed against the owner.

Conservation group WWF-Philippines said possession or slaughter of a whale shark can be punished by up to four years' imprisonment plus a fine of up to 10,000 pesos ($A237).

In February, another 5-1/2-metre whale shark was found dead and the Bureau of Fisheries and WWF offered a $US2,170 ($A2,239) reward for information about the culprits. No one has been arrested.

Whale sharks have been hunted for decades and 2.2 pounds (a kilogram) of dried fins can fetch up to $US800 ($A825) on the black market.

Guy Harvey, marine artist and biologist, is back from an expedition to the Bahamas with a mission of “recording the beauty of sharks.” In addition to Harvey, Jim Abernathy, and artist Wyland, are also involved in the effort. The team hopes to use shark imagery to encourage people to promote shark conservation.

Look around the Internet and you'll discover there are very few blogs out there that deliver consistent shark diving industry content, and even fewer that dare to approach the really tough subjects within our industry.

Ours does.

Underwater Thrills is now part of a small cadre of water blogs - The Top 50 - that deliver shark content, industry analysis, and media on a daily basis.

And that list is growing. Unfortunately missing from this list is Da Shark in Fiji and The Dorsal Fin an oversight that needs to be remedied and will be this week.

For the record here's the Official Top 50 and here's to year number three, 3000 posts and counting.